1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to generation and distribution of computer system reports, and specifically to reports of storage space usage where the report's display content is controlled by the recipient based on data imbedded in the report.
2. Related Art
Storage CeNTral 4.0 provides HyperText Markup Language (HTML) Reports, limited to a 2000 file display, with a lengthy load time for over 1000 files. Storage CeNTral 4.1 provides HTML Reports, limited to a 5000 file display, with a lengthy load time for over 1000 files. Files can be managed on the reports, but there is no drill down.
Storage CeNTral 5.0 provides HTML Reports with no limit to file display, and drill down capability.
Highground SRM provides HTML Reports.
Quicken provides HTML reports with drill down capability.
3. Background of the Technology
Users often require information on their operating system. For example, users need to know how much storage space they have available on a system, or how they can open up more storage space. Reports are run on systems to generate this information. Due to the complexity of the programs that run the reports, users often need system administrators to both download and run these programs. Once the reports are obtained, the reports can usually only be used to view information on the files stored on the operating system, and cannot be used by the user to directly access the files. This is partially due to the large size of data that must be downloaded to access the files.
There is thus a need in the current art for a reporting application that is easy to install. In addition, there is a need to be able to access very large numbers of files while using the reporting application. Furthermore, there is a need to take action on the very large number of files the user is accessing, and see this action reflected immediately in the report.